Academics, Innovation, Evaluation, and Technology Committee - Regular Meeting

Good afternoon, and welcome to the Academics Innovation Evaluation and Technology meeting. If we can get started. All right, so welcome to the committee meeting for April 15th. I now call the Academics Innovation Evaluation Technology Committee meeting to order. The time is now 1-0-1. Before we get started, to state the committee membership, Dr. Dorothy Bendross-Mendigal is our committee chair. She's not able to be here today, and so as committee vice chair, I will be conducting the meeting. Dr. Steve Gallen III, Mr. Robert Alonzo are both members, Mr. Daniel Espino, Ms. Lisa Santo, alternate members, and then our ex-officio members, Madam Chair and Madam Vice Chair. Our first order of today's business is to approve the committee meetings of March 4th, 2026. Are there any questions or concerns from my fellow board members regarding the meeting minutes? Move it.

Second.

All in favor?

Aye.

Thank you. All right, our next order of business would be to move the G items to the floor. May I have a motion? Move it.

Second.

All in favor? Aye. Thank you. Mr. Harvey, the floor is yours for G4.

Good afternoon, G4 presents for initial reading, proposed amendments to school board policy 2111, parent and family engagement, home school district partnership. If there are any questions, I'll be happy to answer them, thank you.

Any board members have any questions? No. Okay, so next order of business would be to, I'm sorry, can I get a motion to move to the board meeting, the G items?

Move to approve. Second. All in favor? Aye.

Thank you. All right, so our next order of business, to move the H items to the floor, can I have a motion?

Second.

All in favor? Aye. Thank you. Our H item, we have H6, Vice Chair Colucci.

Thank you, Madam Chair, and to my colleagues on the board. This is an item that I've been bringing forth since I've been on the board. I think it's imperative, especially in today's day and age where we have so many issues with mental health that as a district we monitor Of course, at all times, ensuring the privacy and confidentiality and the data of our students, where we are and the services that we're providing. So I won't read the whole item to you, but basically it's the same thing that I've been proffering year after year. It's just for us to keep track and to keep moving forward as a district and looking at these elements of our mental health data portfolio. Thank you.

Thank you, Madam Vice Chair. Any questions or comments? Yes, thank you very much, Madam Chair.

Just very briefly, I just wanted to thank the maker of the item, Vice Chair Colucci. As we know, mental health is such an important issue to continue to put as a priority for all of us. It affects so many of our students and it continues to do so, not only after what happened with COVID, But nowadays, they still have to face so many different situations that, sadly, create a scenario where some of the children are affected. So I want to thank you for bringing it forth. It has to stay as a priority. to address the issues that are stated in the recommend, which are all exemplary, but I'd like to see that there is continuous monitoring for those children that have the red flags. I proffered a board item related to the red flags many years ago, and I think that that's where sometimes it falls between the cracks. So please let's do so, because sadly if you see the situations that occur today in shootings in schools and scenarios like that many the majority of those times it's it's a boy uh it's a male and there are children that have had many many issues related to mental health and those red flags were there but somehow they fell through the cracks so that is what's of critical importance to me thank you And I would like to obviously co-sponsor at the correct moment.

Board Member Colucci, you have some comments? Thank you for your comments, Madam Chair. I couldn't concur with you more.

And I would just like to add, the first time you presented this, I thought it was a lot. I wasn't sure if our team could do it. They have been, and I think it's great data. And I just want to highlight some of the things you mentioned with alignment with all of the different providers and the outcomes of services provided and efficiencies. I recently had a phone conversation with Ms. Stewart and that was one of the things that she told me I know they're already looking at, at looking at ways of streamlining the process We want to make sure we have things in place. We don't want it to be so, you know, we want to make sure. So I'm really looking forward and hoping that we can get some updates on that as well. So thank you, Board Member.

And if I may, Madam Chair, just that was another item that I had proffered previously about bringing together the stakeholders so that things weren't fragmented and disjointed. So yes, so thank you for bringing that forward.

All right, if I can get a motion for co-sponsorships. Can I get a second? All in favor? Aye. Thank you. Motion to move the item as amended to the board meeting. All in favor? Aye. Thank you. All right, next item on the agenda is new business from board members. Any board member have some new business they'd like to bring up?

Madam Chair, it's just letting everyone know that I did receive a document from our chair of this committee who wanted me to let everyone know that due to a conflict in scheduling is the reason why she's not here, but that she is listening to everything that has been going on, not just in this committee, but throughout all of our committees so that she can remain cognizant of all of the issues that have been addressed prior to the board meeting that I have. Thank you. Okay.

Thank you, Madam Chair.

Can I comment on that for a moment? I'm sorry. Just as a quick comment on what you just said. That is very, no, no, I'm sorry.

I know, I'm recognizing you because I'm the chair of this committee.

Oh, I didn't realize you were the committee chair. I apologize, Member Blanco, Madam Chair. Thank you. I was just going to say that's unsurprising hearing from that member that she's monitoring everything. I'm glad it got read into the record, but I expected nothing less from my dear sister.

Thank you. Thank you. And yes, and we know she's always on top of things and whenever she needs me to cover, she's always prepared and her team's always willing to help. So I have always appreciated that. I do just have one quick question for staff. When I first came on and proffered an item about the college boot camps, and just to get an update, is that something we're going to be able to offer again this year?

Through the chair. I was about to say through the chair. Yes, we will offer the college again this summer.

Okay, perfect. Thank you. And I assume everything's in motion as usual. Perfect. Thank you. All right. Staff follow-up. We have the H6 item, Accelerating Student Achievement Through Above-Grade-Level Learning Opportunities in Reading and Math. I believe the staff follow-up was presented. If you have some questions.

Yes, Madam Chair, I do. I have several questions and several concerns about this follow-up. First of all, I want to thank the team for this update and this review. But I went through this very, very carefully. follow-up because it's something so important as we move forward as a district I really really firmly believe that we have to continue elevating and raising the bar for our students so I went one by one through the recommends that were unanimously approved by this board and board direction. So I just want to give my feedback and get any input from my colleagues, but the first recommend was conduct a system-wide review and analysis of accelerated and advanced learning courses available for each school that includes enrollment in each. So from looking at the narrative, the analysis was not done completely. The data was provided for ELA and math courses with school-by-school enrollment in these courses, but the response is very, very general. So the data we received doesn't have the analysis to back up what was requested. So for example, in most schools, a substantial portion, and the word substantial I'll highlight, of students scoring at levels four and five are enrolled in accelerated and advanced learning courses indicating strong between demonstrated performance and course placement, and that's on page five of key findings. What is the actual percentage? Because I didn't see that anywhere.

Through the chair, sorry. The percentage varies from school to school. We provided in the methodology we explained that we provided for grades four through 11 because in third grade is the first time that we would have a achievement level indicator. And then we provided the number of students that were identified as fours and fives, and then the number of students that were placed in advanced level courses by school.

Right, thank you, through the chair. I did see that, but what was asked was an analysis of the courses available that includes, for me, anywhere in that I did not see an analysis. An analysis means take data and applying it, and I don't see that anywhere. I mean, maybe it could be me, but I just don't see that. So I think that that's something that needs to go back and be looked at. um under the uh that portion um some schools enrollment in accelerated and advanced learning courses exceeds the numbers achieving levels four and five reflecting broader access to advanced coursework beyond those demonstrating the highest levels of performance i would have liked to have seen what schools and how many by district as well, so that would have given us a good overview. One of the things that that is very imperative in this is that analysis. The whole point of this was to create a plan, and I'm gonna get to that next. Because number two was a district-wide accelerated and advanced learning plan for reading and mathematics that prioritizes above grade level instruction and increases student achievement at levels four and five. So what I do see is it's not a finalized plan. It seems like it's being worked on, it's being developed. It's a description of ongoing initiatives and efforts still in development. The document itself acknowledged that the plan is not yet complete, and that was within the actual document. And quite frankly, this is not what the board had requested, and if, you know, more time was needed, I'm always very flexible in giving more time if it's something that needed to be analyzed further and more... because I know this is a big, big undertaking, but I wanted to see a district-wide plan. And a district-wide plan would involve some sort of metrics of moving one group to another. So for example, high level threes to fours, or fours to fives. So I didn't see that anywhere. Perhaps I missed something through the chair. And one other question, can we anticipate completing a formal plan and submitting it to the board at some point through the chair?

Okay, so through the chair. What we tried to explain in the document is that there are elements of acceleration in various different documents. The pupil progression plan, the master schedule guidelines, et cetera. Those things are developed annually. and like have already gone out. For example, the master schedule guidelines have already gone out. So what we are doing is sending a briefing to principals kind of putting all of these pieces together for them because we cannot, we will not redo the student progression plan until next year. We will not redo the master schedule guidelines until next year. So as these things had already been published, In the interim, we would send updates to the principals via briefing, and then as each of these required elements are produced, we would add them in there as well. So we cannot update the SPP prior to the SPP guideline, but we can tell principals what to do prior to that via weekly briefing.

Through the chair, I don't think I'm understanding. The board agreed on a district-wide plan. I don't see that. I don't see metrics, I don't see how we're gonna move. I want strategies and how we're gonna move. I see more of what is being done, a compilation of what is being done, but what are we gonna do to move the needle? That's what the item was intended for, it was very clear, develop a district-wide accelerated and advanced learning plan for reading and mathematics. I mean, maybe I'm missing something here, but I mean, that's, I think that, you know, These, none of those documents that you're talking about, the student progression plan, they preclude you from making a district-wide plan. Am I, is that correct? Through the chair? Through the chair.

Yes, and I apologize. As we prepared the response, clearly we felt that we were answering the question by indicating different things that we are doing in this plan, but it... we can add more strategies, such as we talked about, that we're adding new coursework with the pre-AP through College Board, that we're adding, and this is on page six, different things that we're doing for next year, we're augmenting our offerings in different advanced academics programs, we're expanding, so that was our response. I understand now, if you would clarify for me, just so that I understand, because clearly we misunderstood. a separate complete document, not what we plan to do, but literally a plan. like a separate document of some kind is what you were anticipating.

That is correct, and that's what I understood when we, and I think the board agreed upon as a directive that that's what we wanted, a strategic plan for district-wide implementation. It said it very clearly. I'm gonna move on to number three because I know people are tired, and I don't wanna drag this out, but the third one was Implement district-wide multi-measure criteria for identifying and placing students into accelerated and advanced learning courses with intentional outreach to ensure access to all student groups. And I think that that's critical. To ensure intentional outreach. So what I'm seeing is You've outlined multi-measure system that incorporates assessment data. And what I'd like to see is the item asked to implement district-wide criteria, which implies standardizing this across schools, not simply describing current school practices. So that's another observation that I made. And I think that this is something that I just know from my experience in the classroom, you have decision trees of where students go. when they're in levels ones and twos, I think that perhaps we need to look at cut scores, automatic placement triggers if a student gets a certain score, override procedures. We have to have the parent opt in and out because maybe they don't want their child to be in an advanced course. And we have to have some sort of accountability to make sure that the schools are actually complying with this and the guidance that they need to comply with this. So one of my suggestions would be having some sort of decision tree, which I know we have at our district level for the ones and the twos, but something to move the needle. The intent behind this was to elevate our district For me, yes, we are an A-rated district, but I want to take us to the next level. I want those proficiency levels to be extremely, extremely high. I have high expectations, and I know all of us in this room do. And I think that's part of success. When you set the bar high, You reach it, but if we don't, we're not gonna get there. So I'm gonna go on to number four. Number four is ensure that all accelerated and advanced courses include embedded academic supports, which may include curriculum-aligned tutoring, intervention or enrichment labs, summer bridge programs, and instructional coaching. The response for this recommendation was the strongest. No, I'm sorry, this one was, I'm sorry, this recommendation requires that the district ensure that the advanced courses include embedded academic supports. The missing part is the district requirement for this. So the memo explains that the supports that exist in general but doesn't establish which supports are required in which courses, for which students, and how implementation is going to be monitored. The described supports in this section on pages six through seven of the follow-up provide three examples, Socratic seminars, math explorations, and project-based learning. For me, these were already strategies that already should be happening in advanced classes. What other supports should be provided to level fours and fives to make sure that they do not regress but instead are accelerated to reach their academic potential, their maximum academic potential? What academic supports would be embedded at the elementary level for team and gifted courses. So you have many times when you have a student that's in a class and there's a gap in a particular area and they just need a support to reinforce something. So I didn't see that in there. I just saw things that should already be happening in good instruction. That's my last one. And then my last comment on number four. And then number five, establish progress accountability measures to monitor student participation, performance and growth in accelerated pathways, including annual increases in the percentage of students' level achievements four and five in reading and mathematics, and report on these levels as a separate category when sharing assessment results with the board. This responds strongest because it provides details on how student performance data for levels four and five will be reported. And if you want to strengthen this section, you could have provided the 2025 FAST data for a baseline. So I would like to, you could have provided that, you could have shown that and that is something that I would, like to see. So those are just my comments. I think that for me and my colleagues, I don't know if they agree with me or not, but this represents progress. I'm not saying it doesn't. I think we're moving in the right direction, but in my ANALYSIS, IT DOESN'T MEET THE FULL BOARD'S DIRECTIVE. IT DOESN'T MEET THE BOARD'S DIRECTIVE. IT SETS EXPECTATIONS FOR A FINALIZED DISTRICT-WIDE PLAN. THAT'S WHAT THE ITEM ASKED FOR. DEFINED ACCOUNTABILITY MEASURES AND A CLEAR IMPLEMENTATION TIMELINE, BUT THOSE ELEMENTS ARE NOT FULLY PRESENT AT THIS TIME. For me, it would be wise to bring this back to the board with the recommendations that I highlighted, and I can go over these things with you offline, but a fully developed and finalized district-wide accelerated plan. That's what I wanna see. And a detailed implementation timeline, which I didn't see. Deliverables and progress. monitoring benchmarks. So those are just some of the things. I remain fully supportive of this work. I remain fully thankful to your team and what they've done. But I think that we need to go back to this. And that's not necessarily a thing. I think that part of it is feedback and going back and looking at this. But for me, this is such an important item, especially at this time when everybody is looking at our proficiency levels, looking at, and we need to get this right, and we need to really focus as a district, what we're doing in this regard. So those are my thoughts. I will if the team has any questions that they want to discuss with me afterwards, I don't want to drag this on because I know everyone's very tired and ready probably for a lunch break. But those are my my thoughts. Thank you, Madam Chair.

Do you have some comments, Madam Chair? Yes, through the Chair. Just very simply, I understand this is an area, that's the reason why we're here, right? So we prepare our students so that they can excel academically and be able to compete in an ever-changing global market successfully. And so it's critically important. And I think it was stated by our Vice Chair, maybe it was just a misunderstanding as to exactly what was expected, but the recommend on the item is like Dr. Stinson used to tell us all the time, is what you need to make sure that is followed up on, and the body can say whatever it says, but we gotta follow to the T what it says on the recommend. So I think that you've all come to an understanding that this is something that you're going to revisit and enhance. You've provided some things, as the Vice Chair has said, that are significant, but there are some other areas that need a little bit more enhancement with the detailed information as requested on the recommend. So I think that has been reached and hopefully we'll be able to get another updated document.

Thank you. Thank you. Thank you, Madam Chair, and thank you for those comments. And yes, I look forward to getting a revised version for me and obviously if my colleagues are on

Yeah, and I think I was just going to interject really quick. I know one of the things that I mentioned when you brought the item up is we have students in gifted and we have students that get assistance, but that middle group, that's identified those that we can move on, that even if they're not identified gifted but are really high, and I know sometimes we put high achievers with gifted, right, but How do we move that, like you said, move that needle to those students that have the potential to be high achieving with just a little bit of a greater push, like you said, putting that expectation. And then I think what you're asking is the plan to do that, right? And that seems like that was one of the things that was missing. But I'm sure the team heard. So the other staff follow-up was from February 2026, item H-14, and the registration processes for students and parents entering Miami-Dade County Public Schools for the first time. Dr. Gallin, I believe that was based on your item. If you or anyone else have some questions about the follow-up.

Yes, thank you, Madam Chair. Through the Chair, I want to thank staff for the information provided relative to this particular issue. Ironically, last night at my town hall meeting, I spent an extensive amount of time talking about how critically important this is that we understand that in this competitive space, all parents have not navigated through the public school system. They don't know what class dojo is. They don't know what OSP is. They don't know what the progress monitoring process is. So we have to acclimate our parents who are entering into our schools, all parents quite frankly, but especially those who may be new to Miami-Dade County Public Schools as we know transition occurs. So this was addressed last night at the meeting, I was anticipating this follow-up, the follow-up being timely. I want staff through the chair just to talk about an implementation framework on page six of six as it relates to the next steps. I know the preceding pages pretty much talked about things that are in place. The Parent Academy, which I'm not going to really speak to that as a direct through line to the issues that I face With this item, I know the Parent Academy does things at a macro level, but this particular issue is at the micro level, at the school site level, at the parent level, at the student level, at the classroom level. And how do we facilitate a framework that deals with implementation? Not concepts, not conceptual frameworks, but implementation. So if you can kind of talk through that particular process, that would be helpful. And what you anticipate, because it says is being developed. So that's a great thing. I'm looking at you, but I know it's Dr. Lewis. I'm so sorry. Yeah, I figured that. Well, it should be because with assessments and through the chair of the issue, the catalyst for the issue was actually an academic issue. It was an issue of a parent not being able to navigate the portal and things of that nature and really gauge where their child is at performing. So through the chair, if we can just talk about the implementation framework, that is what is of interest to me. Thank you, through the chair.

Dr. Lewis?

Yes, through the chair. First of all, Dr. Gallen, let me just say the item itself was very comprehensive. And as you can imagine, it did require quite a bit of collaboration with several departments. I know Ms. Diaz is here as well. So definitely the Office of Academics and Transformation, along with IT, along with our Counselor's Office, along with Region, along with several other departments. And pretty much the biggest finding was, to the matter of fact, that Dade County Public Schools have and maintain several systems that are very supportive as far as helping parents transition, especially during that first year. You already know what some of the systems are, speaking about the parent portal, how it just gives parents real day-to-day access to academic performance, graduation requirements, and just being able to contact and stay in contact with staff. In addition to that, the system itself, as another strong system that we have in place, speaks to the progression plan, right? Which speaks about graduation requirements. In addition to that, the MTSS process, which speaks to about behavioral interventions and so forth. But the biggest piece, and you continue to say it has more so to do with the personnel, right? The counselors, people that's actually at the school, the community involvement specialists and so forth and so on. But like I said, the biggest takeaway was the mere fact that we have several systems However, to me, what I see and what the key finding was is the mere fact that those systems need to be in one set location. So therefore, when parents do access our websites or however they access our website, it's like a one-stop shop for them to have everything that they need. So going back to the question about the implementation timeline, as you know, we're here today and, of course, speaking about the H-14 item itself. And as we progress down this academic year, If you noticed within the plan itself, there are several key steps that needs to take place, especially as relate to May. The key thing with everything that we do has more so to do with training. You talk about the law of proximity all the time. It really speaks to that, making sure that everyone is on the same page and know exactly what they need to do. And the best way to do that is to, once again, provide the necessary training. So come May, the goal is to the finalization of the landing page for our new parent onboarding system. And that's where IT play a key role in it. Not to go into every detail, but you have it in front of you. But I definitely need to highlight some key dates that I think that are extremely important. The development of identification of the training materials to be used to guide this whole entire stakeholder groups. In June itself, if you notice, there will be a pilot testing on the enrollment and registration process with the system and the cohort with the school site administrators. And of course, in order for us to do that, once again, we will utilize every opportunity to include our scale leadership meetings that we are held on a monthly basis to be able to share with our principals. So therefore, when it does come to going live, they're fully prepared. In addition to that, in June, as you can tell, there will be troubleshooting and refinement based on the feedback that we receive from the field itself. And then, of course, the finalization of the training schedule and the rollout of the logistics. As we get into the to the summer months of July, training and capacity building will take place the whole entire month, all the way up until August itself. So just about anything that we roll out, to me the key for success is how much people are well adapted, how much training they receive, so therefore we can avoid any type of hiccups. And if there are any hiccups, be able to transition and pivot to make those adjustments.

Follow-up, Madam Chair? Follow-up. I'm sorry, Superintendent, I'll defer to him if you wanted to speak. Yes, through the Chair. Follow-up.

Yes. Yes, so, Dr. Gallin, so, you know, you said something that has always concerned me as well, the view of the Parent Academy as a macro, as a unit that addresses macro, right? And so organizationally, I've been looking at, and what we can do so that is not the vision. The vision is they do district-wide, they support school functions, but also the training of the community involvement specialists that typically work with parents. I'm even considering changing that title. Community involvement appears to be too much of a broad title. doing something with parents, and those functions that are now in a different department kind of bring it in so that we can no longer see the parent academy as you're seeing it, but the parent academy addressing the bigger picture, but also providing training, consistency, and follow-up at the school site level. So one of the reasons why we shifted the parent academy to school leadership and performance was that is to tie it in closer to the schools. So you may be seeing soon bringing a couple departments together to provide a different view of Parent Academy at the bigger, but also at the school site level. And we're really excited about the new families coming in and doing something special for them at the school site, but also tapping at the district level How are they doing? How are they feeling? What needs they are? So it's giving us an opportunity to review and relook at the entity within itself.

Thank you. Follow up, Madam Chair? Absolutely. Thank you, Dr. Dotris. Absolutely, and I know that the Parent Academy was established with a noble vision. I was around, you were around during its conception, and it was something that obviously was conceived as a framework to be implemented at the macro level. And it was really predicated on this whole notion and the importance of educating parents on how to navigate the bureaucracy. And for the uninformed, it was something birthed under Dr. Rudy Crew. And he felt that we needed to equip parents with the knowledge, the information, the skill set to navigate large bureaucracies. and create what we have in many communities are demand parents. Parents demand certain things for their children. That was the initial framework for the Parent Academy as I recall its birth. And I think to a greater extent it may have stayed in that particular posture. But I think if we're going to accelerate another iteration of that in deference to the law of proximity impacting the people who are closest to the unit of impact, the unit of change, the unit of necessity, which are teachers at the school site who are in the closest proximity to parents, who are ultimately in the closest proximity to their children, we have to be nimble enough to be able to do that. So with respect to this particular piece, I'm glad to see that. And if it were me, through the chair, if I were talking about a framework of implementation, and I know, Dr. Lewis, you referenced a timeline. I was really trying to hone in more so on what that framework would be, and you talked about we have multiple sources of information, multiple tools throughout the district in our toolbox, but at some point, if we are going to transition to a heightened level of efficiency, efficiency is usually built upon integration, integration, where you don't have different things in isolation versus things that are integrated, and I think you alluded to that. Training is gonna be critically important, but I think the law of proximity also will say that we need to look at how our teachers are trained, and I don't mean training in a formal sense, and you all are at somewhat of a disadvantage, and I say that affectionately, because I don't just sit as a policymaker, I sit as one who has probably the closest proximity next to my colleague to the right as it relates to how we have to navigate as parents in this district, so we know as end users of the policies that we discuss, as the practices you develop and implement, we know what that end user experience looks like or does not. So I know sometimes it's not a fair fight, but I know what OSP is and I know how problematic it is. I know when we talk to some parents and the teacher says, you can go look on class dojo and another parent sitting next to me say, who is that? Who is dojo? Where is his room at? No, it's a system. It's a system. So all of these tools are critically important, but how do we extrapolate those tools, those resources that are specifically prescribed to support parental engagement and instruction at the classroom level with the parent, the teacher, and the student. Because I can tell you, the students are more proficient. I don't know about yours. They're very proficient in navigating many of these systems and from OSP and things of that nature. So how do we consolidate that? And my last point is, training we talk about in a formal sense, but if it were me, And I know it's very difficult for us to do it sometimes because, Omar, I know Open House is not for that, and they make it very clear. But maybe we need to start carving out a segment in Open House. Is it a five-minute segment? Is it a seven-minute segment to say, these are the tools by which you can communicate with me this year? Number one, these are the tools. Number two, you have to then register. Registration could be actually part of that. It could be actually part of that, looking at parents sitting in a room saying, Danny, this is how we're going to register parents at this time. Think about that. If you got a captive audience in each school and parent doesn't have to go home and start cooking dinner and start navigating through what's going on at home, but if for a moment we have a system, go to click one, click two, click three, put up your phone, Here's the QR code. Let's do it all together. One, two, three. Right now, I've registered all of my parents at least on Class Dojo. They leave equipped, informed, and most importantly, they leave empowered on how to navigate the next day, the next week, the next month, throughout the year with that teacher. not with the bureaucracy. So I'll close by saying the Parent Academy initially was conceived on helping parents navigate through this bureaucracy, which was intimidating. But we know that student performance and outcomes and impacts are not necessarily achieved at the bureaucratic level. They're achieved at the school site level, at the teacher level, at the classroom level, and at the student level. So that's something I just want for contemplation. Thank you for the response, and I look forward to some follow-up and anything I can do to support this moving forward, let me know. But I often say, if it were me, this is how I would approach it. Thank you, Madam Chair.

Thank you, Dr. Gallin, and given that it was your item, I obviously wanted you to speak first, but as I looked through the staff follow-up, that was one of the things that I felt was missing, because I remember also interjecting when you brought forth the item, and it was like, how do we make this where it's a person, there's a person that's orienting them through it, not just, here's the website, go figure this out, right? I think that was the element that you were trying to bring through it, so. I look forward to hearing some of that. And I think that's ways to make it feel like a home experience, right? And help the parent feel involved. All right, I think at this point, the one thing that's left, we all got the ETO update from Dr. Tri-Diggs. We all had it for review. Any questions on that? Okay, Madam Chair. Yes, thank you very much.

I just wanted to take this opportunity, to thank Dr. Diggs and the members of her team that have met with me specifically to address concerns that I had and questions that I had and recommendations that I have made to address specific schools that I was very concerned about and particularly a school that is one of two that needed a lot of loving care, tender loving care. And the data, because everything has to be data-driven, that was submitted to me, I reviewed very, very carefully. It was very detailed, very comprehensive. And I had follow-up questions related to, again, attendance of children, which is the one area that continues to concern me. And I have proffered a board item related to that. But if a child is not in school, no matter what we do with all the wonderful conversation that we've had here today relative to academics, child's not in school, that child's not going to progress. that child is not gonna be able to learn because they're not present when the teacher is teaching the lessons. And so I'm looking at very closely schools, especially now at those that need a lot of attention, and looking at the number of students that are not present, that have been out of school for more than 10 days, five days uh what are we doing what steps are we taking so that we can turn that around because if those children don't go to school everything else that is done with the board and the superintendent and and the parents and everyone else we can get involved in this process is not gonna it's not gonna make it happen because the kids are not present So I do want to thank you. I know you all know that that is something that I'm looking at very carefully. I'm waiting to hear a little bit more follow-up on that particular site that we talked about. But I have to thank you truly for giving me data-driven information. I'm very enthused and very hopeful based on the data that I was able to review that we're going to move that needle in the right direction. And that's... you know, the goal that we've all had from the very, very beginning. I also want to thank you for all of the other information that you provided to us with reference to the professional learning areas, the instructional and school site support that is being given is very important as well. And the fact that there's consistency and fidelity and the follow up to this arena is very important because if there's no fidelity and you go one time and then you don't show up again for a while and then you go back and there's no consistency in that practice, it's not gonna be effective. So I'm very happy to see everything that has been provided and of course being in tune with the school improvement plan which is the North Star for these schools. So thank you, thank you, thank you. I look forward to meeting with you all again and to following up with a site visit as we discuss on the day that we met. So LourdesDSU2, I know that they report to you, and you're the one at the helm as your superintendent, and everyone in the team who has made it possible. Thank you. I really do appreciate it. Okay.

Thank you, Madam Chair. Dr. Gallin, you have some comments or questions?

Yes, through the chair, I want to echo the sentiments of the chair and thank her for saving me my remarks. My commentary was to give extreme kudos to Dr. Diggs and her team. I recently had an opportunity to have my progress monitoring meeting to take a look at the student performance at my schools, in my district, and the proficiency, knowledge, and insights that they have, the surgical work that they do with respect to utilizing data and being able to, in many cases, predict performance is impressive. And they have not failed yet, and I don't anticipate failure this year because failure is not an option, right? So I want to, again, share the sentiments expressed by our chair and give kudos to Dr. Diggs and her entire team. Those are some meetings that I always look forward to. I'm in my zone when I'm with them and she's smiling and laughing. I get up and I start breaking down the data. It's just exciting for me because at the end of the day, despite some of the cacophony and rancor and things that we deal with here that we have to deal with, when you have an opportunity to really deal with the core technology of why we exist, and that's around student and learning. That's always an opportunity to affirm a sense of purpose and a sense of passion for this work that I've enjoyed for 36 years. Thank you so much, and kudos to the entire team, and you as well, Ms. Diaz. Thank you.

All right, thank you. Any other comments, business? All right, seeing no other business before us, I say this meeting is adjourned.